Abstract

Posture is the foundation for fitness. The most common cause of injury in adults is musculoskeletal. Prevention of
such injuries starts with correct posture. Due to the limited information available on the relationship between physical
activity and posture, this research attempted to determine if a significant correlation existed between the two in middle
school adolescence ages 12-14. The subjects were chosen by a sample of convenience. All subjects were volunteers from the Maize Middle School physical education classes. The subjects’ physical fitness was tested using a group of
assessments from the Fitnessgram. Each subject was assessed using the PACER, curl-up, push-up, and sit-andreach
tests in comparison to the appropriate age standard to determine a healthy fitness zone. Then each subject was
assessed for posture using a Plexiglas grid. The subject were positioned behind the grid, using the anterior lateral
malleolus as the anatomical landmark for proper positioning to assess the posture at the levels of the ear lobe, the
acromion, the posterior greater trochanter, and slightly anterior to the axis of the knee joint. The results were
analyzed using the Pearson correlation to determine if there was a relationship between the anatomical posture landmarks and the individual physical fitness tests in the chosen population with females and males separated. It was
concluded that there is no correlation between physical fitness and posture in females or males ages 12-14.

Description

Paper presented to the 3rd Annual Symposium on Graduate Research and Scholarly Projects (GRASP) held at the Hughes Metropolitan Complex, Wichita State University, April 27, 2007.

Research completed at the Department of Physical Therapy, College of Health Professions